Commanders vs. 49ers: 3 things to watch, including end-of-game situations

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ASHBURN, Va. — Some turned to rom-coms. Others phoned home to college friends. A few just wanted a small reprieve from the grind of an NFL schedule.

Everyone in the Washington Commanders locker room dealt with last week’s baffling overtime blunder differently.

But one through line with all of them: They realized this storm isn’t going away — no matter how hard they try.

The Commanders’ shocking tie against the New York Giants, in which they elected to forgo a potential game-winning field and let the time run out, is all anyone is talking about in the NFL world.

Fans are calling for firings. Players are questioning quarterbacks. Pundits are saying it’s the worst blunder in years.

Amid all of this, the Commanders will return to the field against the San Francisco 49ers. There won’t be any hiding on “Monday Night Football,” with the rest of the league watching.

So how fast can they move on?

Well, as coach Dan Quinn said, it isn’t about moving on. It’s about learning to live with the scar and salvage the season.

Here are three things to watch Monday night.

Living in a post-meltdown world

Maybe the most surprising detail of the week came from Amik Robertson. And it had nothing to do with football.

Robertson was talking about how he spent his two days off (Washington had an extra day since it plays on Monday, not Sunday). And he said he let the Giants loss linger longer than his standard 24 hours.

“More like 48 hours on this one,” he said.

And what did he do in that time? He turned to rom-coms. Specifically, he watched “Anyone But You,” the movie starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. He said he didn’t want to watch “The Notebook,” so this was a close second.

The Commanders are trying everything to reset after last week’s tie left them 1-3-1. And to them it starts by trying to rebuild instead of forgetting.

Clearly, Washington’s communication is a significant issue. The sequence at the end of the game was a failure of the coaching staff (for calling a play), the quarterback (for not throwing it away) and the other players (for not rushing back to the line). Such a systemic breakdown from top to bottom is rare.

So how do you fix it? The Commanders are practicing it.

“You’ll see a lot of that,” Quinn said.

It goes without saying that another blunder like this would make Quinn’s seat scorching hot, even more than it already is. And the Commanders haven’t exactly looked like a smooth operation this year outside this last-second issue. Quinn has a chance to correct the mistakes on Monday.

Penalties … again

One area where Quinn’s club needs to look smoother is penalties. Two weeks ago in London, the Commanders committed 10 in a blowout loss.

Quinn was so upset he brought in an officiating crew during practice to help the players tighten up.

The result? Ten more penalties against the Giants.

That included back-to-back false starts in the red zone that took away a touchdown chance.

“It really cost us in the second quarter,” offensive coordinator David Blough said.

With just three wins in the last 17 games, Quinn is fighting for his job. And Washington has too often gotten in its own way as it tries to get back in contention.

A San Francisco problem

If the Commanders wanted to ease back into the schedule after last week, they are getting just the opposite.

How about the 49ers? They are only 5-0 and playing at home in primetime.

Quarterback Brock Purdy will test Washington’s leaky secondary. Giants quarterback Jameis Winston carved up the Commanders for over 300 yards and three touchdowns. He’s a backup.

Imagine what Purdy can do in the midst of a career year.

Purdy leads the NFL with 13 passing touchdowns and has the second-fewest interceptions with two.

Defensive coordinator Daronte Jones is well aware of what Purdy can do. He is hoping to keep him in the pocket, instead of scrambling, and make him more one-dimensional.